Testing The Giant Green Button – Does It Really Deserve The Space It Takes Up On The Handlebars?

Paul from em3ev threw in a free Giant Green Button with our last $4,200 order so I could write a review for it because I was too cheap to spend $6 on one. It took me several weeks to get around mounting it to a build and try it but I finally did and was under-whelmed. This button is designed as temporary PAS cutout for the BBS02 so you can shift without grinding the gears and chain together.

What I keep calling the Giant Green Button is actually pretty tiny.

Installation takes all of 5 minutes, you just hook it up to the ebrake connector and mount it on the left side of your handlebars. You will need to put it on the left hand side as your right hand thumb will be pushing the triggers to shift your derailleur. Since I usually mount the throttle on the left this made my handlebars feel pretty crowded on the left side and I had to mount the button inside the brake and the throttle so it was quite a stretch to reach it with my thumb (I have the longest and itchiest trigger thumbs in the West).

The green button screams ebike and clutters the handlebars.

The biggest problem I saw with the green button is that it creates a 2 second delay of power interruption whenever you press it. When going up hills and you need to shift you end up losing way too much power as usually your shift completes in less than 1/2 second. The dedicated higo plug and the shift sensor on the Lectric Cycles e-Rad branded BBS02 works much better and is a far more seamless integration. That being said I would not spend $95 to get the shift-sensor from Lectric Cycles without having an e-RAD system drive because the power cut off delay will be too long and will probably be annoying, especially on hills.

When hooking up ebrakes to the BBS02 I never use the Bafang brakes on the rear-brake side. The main reason is because whenever you touch the brake the throttle stops working for 2 seconds. In the woods this is incredibly annoying to have constant throttle lag. I am often on the brakes and the throttle at almost the same time. If I leave the PAS connected then I hook up the Bafang front brake which allows me to kill the PAS immediately when I hit the front brake in case I’m about to hit something (that never happens) or I can just tap the brake a tiny bit but not engage it in order to shift. In my opinion this is a far better solution than using the Giant Green Button as it doesn’t clutter your handlebars and keeps your ebike looking as stealthy as possible.

6 thoughts on “Testing The Giant Green Button – Does It Really Deserve The Space It Takes Up On The Handlebars?”

Karl, two things, I have a Gearsensor you can test if you’d like. Secondly, what has your experience been with a HWBS or Generic Ebrake sensor. Delays that frustrate shifting with them too? All three work for me but I am a flat city street and mild bikeway rider.

I have 2 gear sensors, just haven’t hooked them up to the ebrake cables as they are with eRad systems. I find the delays with the generic ebrake also frustrating. Generally I just use the throttle except on my 52T commuter which is an eRad w/ gear sensor.

I really like this button since it lets me easily disable my motor when passing pedestrians with small children/babies on bike paths or when I don’t want to worry about accidentally hitting the throttle and sending my bike into traffic at an intersection or while standing in food truck lines.

Brake cutoff hall sensors drove me nuts with the 2 second delay.

Overall, I think this button is an adequate ebike braking solution be it for commuting or singletrack and also serves as a useful safety feature.

I have a different out take on this. My BaFang 750w sends torque to a Rohloff Speed Hub. Since you stop peddling to shift the brake cut-offs were just causing problems so I disconnected them. What I want this button for is when I am up to speed and want to keep pumping without the drive on. Or times when I am moving very slowly through and around those pesky humans (Sidewalk Dolphins, or Penguins maybe). I also believe I can use this cut off to save battery by allowing me to get the entire mass moving on human power before allowing the motor to drive. Hey, look, I said I could do it, not that I always Will do it.